


Blue and Gold

by loveliestfirebird



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-02-13 11:36:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12983244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loveliestfirebird/pseuds/loveliestfirebird
Summary: While Gideon truly loves his parents, he often wonders how they ever got together and manage to be in each other's company at all.One day, he miraculously gets the chance to find out first hand when he's sent back to when they were in high school.





	1. Chapter 1

“You kept this from me! Hundreds of dollars a month into a secret account and you claim it’s for me?” 

“Yes, Belle! Gods, how can you not understand that!” 

Gideon stood with a huff and stormed upstairs to his room. They had some kind of fight about money at least three times a month. It always seemed to surprise his mom that dad had money and it always surprised his dad that she’d be mad about keeping it a secret. They’d been married near twenty years and always managed to find new and unique things to discover about the other. For all of his sixteen years of life, he had absolutely no clue what on earth made his mom stick around.

Half of Maine thought so, too and the other half were very defensive of the pair of them together. To be fair, there was but once that his dad slept on the couch and they did take a vacation together every summer around their anniversary. Gideon had gone once when he was thirteen and realized he could just as well see them fight from the comfort of his own couch back at home. He loved his parents, honestly and truly. His dad gave them everything they wanted the second they asked. He’d even parted with his beloved Cadillac because Gideon showed mild interest in it. When their library at home got too small, his dad bought the one across from his shop and slapped her name across it.

Part of Gideon believed the only reason his mom even loved his dad was because of his first name. Her favorite book had always been Her Handsome Hero. When she met someone with the same name as the protagonist, she probably thought it was fate. Even still he’d probably been Mr. Gold even as a child because Gideon had never heard that his father had a friend come up and ask him about Gideon Gold and mean his father. As much as he loved his father, he didn’t think they’d have been friends in high school. 

“Gideon? C’mon, sweetheart, we’re going to dinner!” Belle called, sounding a thousand degrees happier than she had been a moment ago.

“We’re going to that restaurant you like.” His father knocked on his door and cracked it open. “Every thing’s okay, kid. I promise, no more fights.”

“Tonight, maybe.” Gideon sat up from his bed and tossed his phone aside. “What was the money for?”

Gold sighed and stepped forward to sit on the edge of the bed. He placed a hand on his son’s shoulder. “When you go off to college, I don’t want me being what steps in your way.”

“So it’s a bribe.”

“No, no. It’s so you can go anywhere from here to California and you won’t have to worry about out of state tuition. And a little extra so you can afford to come home whenever you need.”

“Mom said it was for her.” Gideon recalled, slipping into his jacket.

Gold hesitated. “She’s worried how much like her you are, that’s all.” 

“She knows I wouldn’t do that to her, right?” Gideon’s heart softened and he looked with pleading eyes towards his father. Gold hugged him around his shoulders.

“Of course, she does. That doesn’t mean she isn’t afraid it might happen.”

“Are you ready- oh! What’s wrong?” Belle threw the door open and hugged her son from the other side. 

Gideon still didn’t feel quite right whenever they left for dinner. It was dark and cold and pouring down rain, so everything was horrible all over again. His dad had an injury from something he’d done in high school and it always got worse during bad weather. It made him irritable all over again, but Belle just kept a calm and loving tone with her husband. Gideon blessed her for trying because his father just got annoyed by the coddling. Her hopeful attitude disappeared whenever Gold refused to tip the waiter based on some stupid principle about teaching the kid a lesson in economics. It only worsened when Gold found out in the car on the drive home that she left double what she normally would.

“Don’t you wish you had somebody to help you out at your first job?” 

“Don’t do this right now, Belle, not in front of the boy.”

“The boy wanders why you two don’t just divorce.” 

The car jerked to a stop, but it wasn’t because of what Gideon had said. An electric jolt shook through his body and the smell of fire and ash clouded his head. Visions of darkness swirled as if his eyes were shut too tight. The air had been knocked out of his lungs, constricting his ribs as he struggled to fight for his life. Would that he were able, he’d have cried. Sounds were gone and he was stuck in a vacuum of space and consciousness. He’d heard stories of when Belle was pregnant with him, she’d have nightmares exactly like this. But then Gideon, her small baby, would call to him from the distance and she wouldn’t feel afraid. There himself now, he searched as best he could and found nothing. Not his mother, not his father, not a dreamlike state of a future child he probably wasn’t ready for.


	2. Chapter 2

Gideon woke in a dim, but warmly room on a white bed that felt like a twin size though a little longer. There were odd pictures of flowers in wooden frames on the eggshell painted room and the ceiling above was lined in odd designs similar to veins and popcorn. The smell came after. Antiseptic, crisp linens that were clean although not quiet the warm embrace of his own bed. He’d known this smell once before when his grandfather was in the hospital. Glancing around, that confirmed his suspicions. He wasn’t attached to an EKG, and there was a cloth separation drawn through the middle of the room. He didn’t feel any aches or pains, so he sat up and tried to remember what happened last.

“Oh, you’re up!” 

Gideon flinched and looked to his side. His eyes near bugged out of his head and he was rendered too dumbstruck to speak. “M..mom?”

She laughed, but visibly tried not to. “You must still be a little out of it. I’m Belle French. I volunteer here on the weekends.”

Gideon felt like he was going to be sick. This seemed too real to be a dream and the events leading up to this would put him in a hospital. What was going on? 

He must have not responded in an appropriate amount of time because a look of concern overcame her.

“How are you feeling? I can retrieve the doctor if you’d like?”

“Yeah. Please, thanks.” Gideon nodded. Belle patted his shoulder before getting up, setting her book down, and skipping out of the room.

A few minutes later, the doctor came in and introduced himself as Dr. Whale. Only, it wasn’t the same one Gideon had been seeing since he was born. He introduced himself as Gery and was gentle looking man with broad shoulders and an affectionate face. Gideon had never heard of a Gery Whale from Victor or from any other person in Storybrooke. There was a brother at one point, but he’d died a long time ago in a car accident or something. Maybe this wasn’t just a dream and his mother did have a random doppleganger and Whale was more common of a last name than he thought. This Dr. Whale asked Belle to leave the room while he sat down in a chair nearby.

“You seem a little concerned about your situation here.” 

Gideon racked his brain for something to say. He needed a little more information without appearing absolutely psychotic. “I’m disorientated. Could you tell me where I am?”

“You’re in Storybrooke. Do you know anyone here you might have been staying with?” Dr. Whale asked, scribbling notes on a clipboard before looking at him.

“I don’t imagine so.” Gideon knowingly lied. He wanted to find his parents before trying to figure out what happened here. “I remember being in an accident and waking here? There were other passengers.”

The doctor hummed in thought. “There was an incident last night with a bus just before the town lines.”

That correlated. He and his parents had gone out of the town to that restaurant. Suddenly, a terrible thought occurred to him. “What happened to the others?”

“They’re fine, just in the hospital as well.”

Gideon’s heart dropped and his eyes began to water. “Names? I believe I had family on that bus. A, uh. A French? And a Gold?”

“There was. Moe French, actually. Are…they your family?” Dr. Whale raised a skeptical brow.

“No.” He breathed a sigh of relief and rubbed his forward as he leaned back. “They must have gotten out alright.”

“Would you tell me the names of those you’re looking for? I can keep an eye out.” 

Gideon declined after another realization struck him. When he asked for the last name Gold, Dr. Whale didn’t grimace or look afraid. Everybody in this town knew his father. That something wasn’t quite right was an understatement. After a good long talk about Gideon’s mental state where he proved to himself he could talk his way out of most anything, they made him stay one more night for observation. Belle came back that night and explained her volunteer job a little further. She read to patients who were comatose or in a vegetative state. His heart warmed of his mother’s love for others even infecting this nightmare. Before she left for the night, she asked Gideon if he had any place to stay while he was here.

“I don’t. I hadn’t planned on staying here that long.”

“You travel?” Belle’s eyes lit up when he nodded. “I’m jealous. I’d love to travel all over the world one day.”

“Why not now?” 

“I like having a high school diploma first.” She said, almost pointedly. She still sounded like his mother.

“Counting down the days then?”

“Most definitely. But, well. My dad was in that accident last night. I might have to take a few days out of school to be with him, you know?”

That affirmed this was definitely not his mother. His grandfather on her side was a deadbeat dad that she never talked about and moved to Australia never to be seen again. She didn’t hate him, she wasn’t capable of hating anybody. He was who Gideon had seen that one very brief time in the hospital and it was his father who’d taken him, not Belle. She’d known him to pull through anything like the bullheaded man that he was. In the morning, a Sunday, he’d go around town and figure something else out. Including where he’d be staying. Maybe in this kaleidoscopic world he could manage to sneak back to his home and make a plan on getting home.

His clothes had been singed according to Dr. Gery. Belle had brought him clothes the previous day that belonged to her father who had the strangest taste in clothes. Even his dad didn’t wear high waisted white pants. Bold stripes of monochromatic colors slanted this way and that across the shirt that swallowed him up. What Gideon lacked in the weight of her father, he made up for in height. It still hung awkwardly, but at least it didn’t look clunky. He’d thought this world Belle’s dramatic eyeshadow had been a lot to look at. His mom’s hair was wild and curly, but not at all like this Belle French’s. Walking out and going into the hallway, though, was like stepping through a portal of horrifying fashion sense. Considering his parents were phenomenal dressers, it was something he felt offended by.

He was in Storybrooke Memorial. There wasn’t any doubt about it. The furniture arrangement had changed and carpet had been taken out since…this. Gideon schooled his features and presumed the role of his father’s son. If he were in this situation, he’d put on his game face and work through the situation to turn it in his favor. Gideon knew he was smart. He could do this and get back home and hug his parents. Being away from them like this wasn’t horrifying, so much as disorienting. Like a bad dream, but not really. He’d always thought pain wasn’t able to be felt in dreams and yet tears pricked at the back of his eyes. He went to the front desk and signed off his name and retrieved his items. He still had his wallet, driver’s license and money, but his cell phone wasn’t there. He instead had a small photo album with a notepad with his contacts. He only had his mom, dad, and Roderick. He had a group chat with Neal Nolan and Robin Mills, but there wasn’t any note about them here.

Outside of the hospital there was a newspaper stand proclaiming that the Nintendo Game Boy was the cull of satanism and that NASA launched the Galileo spacecraft. The race for political president was between George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis. He’d never paid much to the news, so there was no way even his subconsciousness would be aware of who lost the presidency in November 1989, two months from the date on the paper. His hands started shaking, but he pushed it down further. He didn’t belong here and as long as he could play this off as a dream then he could make anything happen. He could get through this for as long as it took. There was a sharpening pain in his bones, though he marched on forward. His mother always swore there was something to rediscover about Storybrooke. 

“I’ll be damned if I let you pick me clean, you bastard vulture!” 

Gideon snapped around to see a tall man in baggy clothes shoving off another person closer to Gideon’s age.

“I’m just trying to get you home, da.” The son pleaded, clad in darker, even baggier clothes. He looked thin, but it was hard to tell.

“Hey! Are we having a problem here?” The Sheriff who was assuredly not Graham or Emma pushed forward.

“This cunt is trying to rob me blind!” 

“Stilinski, that’s your boy. He’s not going to-”

“That’s all the pisser ever does is take me money. Lock ‘em up, why don’t you?” 

Gideon watched in horror as the father shoved his son into the sidewalk towards the Sheriff. Others started crowding around him and the son went tomato red in embarrassment as the mutterers started. The kid’s name was Rum, apparently, and they all thought it was a rotten pity he’d gotten settled with Malcolm Stilinski as a father. Buffing up his chest and gathering all his brevity, Gideon marched forward. He was going to be the hero in his own dreams and help those that were poorer than him and deserved it. He picked Rum up off the ground and pulled him away out of the ongoing physical fight between the Sheriff and Malcolm.

“You good? You looked like you needed a bit of help.” Gideon asked when they were across the street. 

“Yeah.” Rum looked up at him. “Thanks, man. I’m already in trouble enough as it is. I really don’t need to meet my girlfriend with a black eye and worry ‘er, know?”

Gideon did not know, but that didn’t matter when he was looking his father right in the eyes. He may have looked nothing like how Gideon was used to, but there wasn’t a doubt about it. He could feel it in his blood and see the color eyes his mother swore Gideon inherited. But why was his name Rum Stilinski? Where the hell had that even come from?

“Y-yeah. Wh-your girlfriend?” Gideon cleared his throat and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

“Mm. Milah Hart. You know her?” Rum asked with a wide and proud grin. Gideon felt an inner turmoil at hearing his father’s doppleganger apparently happy with someone who was not his mother.

“I don’t, but I just came into town. I’ve met you, Dr. Whale, and ah, that one girl that volunteers? You know her?” Gideon asked, hoping it didn’t sound like he was begging for knowledge.

“Belle French I think? I dunno, her father runs the flower shop. He was in that bus accident last night.” 

“Should meet him. We seem to have something in common.” Gideon joked. 

“Oh, no way? How did you walk away from that?” 

“Lucky, I suppose. Not without a couple of scars.” Gideon shrugged, heart still thudding. “I am stuck here for awhile, though. Got any place you think I could hang out until I get my shit together?”

“That nut job Ms. Lucas just opened a bed and breakfast. She’s got a granddaughter named Ruby that always takes in strays.” 

“Sure. I’ll give it a try. If…if you get stuck in a situation again, let me know?”

“Uh, sure. I’ll look you up in the book if I knew your name?” 

“Oh, uh. Gideon. Gideon Gold.” He hesitated, hoping it didn’t sound too close to home with Rum. He didn’t even seem to notice, just nodded and waved before going on down the road.

Gideon leaned against the brick wall behind him and leaned against his knees as he took several deep breaths. His father wasn’t Gideon Gold Sr. here, but rather Rum Stilinski. His mother was still Belle Gold, but volunteering at a hospital despite never ever having mentioned it before. Aunt Ruby was here, but not Victor Whale, but Gery Whale was. Everything was tossed upside down to shake it all up and set it back down. He was surprised there wasn’t a glass dome over this snow globe of a world. He could handle it being a dream. He needed some semblance of reality to hold onto. When he started to get nauseous from lack of food, he clenched onto his stomach and felt the fabric of Belle’s gift between his knuckles. He knew he could get through this. He knew he could go back home. Maybe while he was here he could learn more about them and the secrets they kept from him.


	3. Chapter 3

“Hi, there! Welcome to Granny’s. My name is Ruby. Can I start you off with a drink?” 

Gideon met his Aunt Ruby and learned something else: everybody either aged gracefully or just didn’t. They all looked exactly the same, more or less, except for his parents. Ruby was still all chipper with a wolfish smile she used for everyone even years later. The red streaks in her hair had dyed down, but as far as being just as beautiful as when Gideon first saw her, she was. He remembered being seven years old and making Mary Margaret distraught when he’d always choose Ruby over her. His first heartbreak came that night after his mom confessed Ruby was already in love with another and it wasn’t meant to be. Looking back on it left him with a modicum of disgust, like she was actually related to him. 

She brought out his chicken parmesean shortly after his iced tea. “Can I get you anything else?”

“It looks great as always, Ruby.” He complimented with probably a bit more familiarity than he should. “I haven’t had anything like a home cooked meal in a long time.”

“Well, you go ahead and eat up. I’ll make sure the chef sets aside a fresh piece of pie to take with you.” She winked and spun away.

Gideon ate slowly, making Ruby refill his tea glass every round. He could hear Granny Lucas singing along with some song and that old familiar smell of lasagna crisping around the edges. She’d made a large pan of it for his fifth birthday with the promise his father wouldn’t ever darken the diner again. Belle had defended him and they got into an argument of her not needing to lose friendships over him. It almost made him tear up were he not able to connect many things in his daily life to them arguing. What made it worse was how happy they were here and they weren’t even together. Rum didn’t have a happy home life according to that interaction with Malcolm, but he was at least with someone he apparently liked and anxious to go see.

“Here you go. If you don’t need anything else, I’ll see you next time!” Ruby brought by a small to-go box in a plastic bag with the promised slice of fresh pie. Behind the counter Granny was bringing out the rest of it to put in the display case.

“Ask you something?” Gideon stopped her. “I need a place to stay for a little while. I don’t have much cash that wasn’t lost in that bus accident last night, you see. Any advice?”

“I’ll see what I can do.” She placed her hand on his in reassurance. He hated using her heart to his needs, but this time had a point.

Ruby went behind the counter while he was counting out money for a tip and returned with a bright eyed grin. She had a spare room, but Rum Stilinski had claim over it first through a temporary thing. If he didn’t care about Gideon bunking there for the intermediate future, then Granny and Ruby would rent it out to him. If he was going to be there more than a month, though, he had to get a job. He’d never had one before as his father swore that he wouldn’t have to. They lived a white collar lifestyle and Gold wanted it to stay that way. Gideon never showed interest regardless. He hoped he wouldn’t be a here a month. Or, he wished Roderick was here. That asshole would make this way better.

Gideon took the key and paid his tab before jogging up to the room. Clicking open the door and pushing it open, he could feel that it hadn’t changed. Only, here it was brand new. Maybe a couple of years old if that since the diner was still fresh. There was heinous pink and red wallpaper and floral designs on the bed and pillowcases. Definitely decorated like an old grandmother’s house would be. Pictures of old Storybrooke hung on the walls like family photos in odd shaped frames crafted from the fifties. He discarded his wallet and on the dresser beneath the small box television and took his picture book to the bed. He’d talk to his father in the morning after a recuperation.

Each time he went to lie down that night, to pretend to sleep so that he could wake up in not 1989, that sharp pain vibrated through his side and chest. When he closed his eyes, he could hear his mom’s voice calling to him. She was afraid and he couldn’t tell her that he was alright. He’d see her soon. He’d see all of them soon. Maybe that was the reason his parents stayed together like they did: for family. Or they believed divorce was the absolute worst thing two people could do even when they were better as parents and friends than married. Gideon understood that divorce was a last resort for most couples, but he still believed it was something they needed. Maybe a separation would be easier. Not divorced just…apart.

Monday morning rolled around and Gideon woke a quarter after eight. Contemplating going to school didn’t cross his mind until then. It was the first of the month, so he and Roderick would be skipping after the third period test to go to the Rabbit Hole to shoot pool. He could always go down that ways and see what else aside from the rest of the town still looked exactly the same only with different owners. He wanted to wait until going home, to his house that he knew, until later when he could face whatever was there. That would answer something for him and he didn’t know if he wanted to ask those questions yet. He took a shower and trotted downstairs for the breakfast of a muffin and a glass bottle of milk Granny had for her tenants.

“Hey! Gideon, right?” That unmistakable voice that pulled him from nightmares called. He looked across the street to see Belle waving ecstatically.

“That’s me. Not in school today?”

“I have an appointment.”

“Wh-” He stuttered, his heart plummeting to the floor. “Are you…are you sick?”

“No, no, no! Oh, goodness. See, I don’t come into school until ten o’clock. I do this school-from-home ordeal.” She rubbed the back of her neck. “It’s…it’s kind of embarrassing.”

“I had no idea you were that smart.”

“It’s not an intelligent thing, but thanks.” She shot him a look. “It’s a work thing so I can take care of what I need to take care of.”

“Oh yeah. Da- Rum Stilinski told me how your dad owns the flower shop. That where you work?” He asked, walking down the sidewalk with her.

She nodded. “Yep. Mom’s sick, dad can’t take care of everything himself.”

“Your mom’s sick?” He remembered Belle explaining that she hadn’t had a mom in a very long time, but didn’t really explain what from.

“Couple of years now.” She nodded, dropping her hands to her sides. She cleared her throat and put on a smile. “So why aren’t you in school right now?”

“It’s a little complicated.” He shrugged, not quite sure what to say. She gave him the same look she would one day when finding out he faked sick to skip school.

“If you ever want someone to talk to…” She trailed off, placing a comforting hand on his arm.

“You’ll be the first I find.” Gideon promised.

The pair of them walked on to the high school discussing everything as if they were best friends. He was glad that hadn’t changed from what he was used to. Long before he’d known Roderick, his mother was the only person in the world who understood. Even now when he understood toxic relationships and what people didn’t deserve to go through, he would stand by his mother for anything in the world. The strange thing was, Gideon never got teased for being a mama’s boy like the others in his class. Here with his mother, they talked about the weather in a comfortable way and how he was adjusting to Storybrooke. Considering Gideon had been on many travels with his parents, he could pretend that he was from somewhere else within reason. He tried not to talk about anything present-day related, like the fact that Belle’s favorite book was made into an amazing Indie project movie and she’d be the reason it happened. An amazing birthday for her that year, Gideon recalled.

Third period was just starting whenever Belle rolled in with two others who were on the same schedule as her. She waved him goodbye and skipped off, the tails of her light pink dress flowing behind her. When he was younger and adoringly watched his mother prepare for a date night, he always thought she was a movie star. She hadn’t much changed since high school. With a warm smile, he turned on his heel and gathered up everything she taught him about bravery. Today now felt like a better day to explore the town and see where his home stood. Hopefully, he could sneak in and bunk around for a few days until he found out how to get back to his own time. Swallowing down that existential fear, he put his feet to the pavement and marched onward.

The only way Gideon knew it was his house was the plaque outside the fenced off area. He saw it every night at dinner, as it currently had been affixed to the wall opposite the family portrait. The building was covered in vines and partially dilapidated. Sleeping in it too much would probably make him sick from the mold. He furrowed his brows in contemplation on how it ever became the estate he grew up in. He was under the impression that his father had always had it, possibly an inheritance gift from some rich dead aunt. Gideon also thought his father’s born name was Gold, but that wasn’t true here either. 

“Stay away from me, you stupid son of a bitch!” 

Gideon flinched at the aggravated woman’s voice and immediately ran towards it in hopes of being helpful. He stumbled across two who should be in school and he was very surprised to see not there. Rum Stilinski, his father, was trailing behind a woman with dramatic makeup running down her face and dark hair flayed around her. Rum was trying very hard to keep up with her at all and Gideon was torn between helping a woman in pain and coming to the aid of his father. And then he realized, when there was a slap to Rum’s face and a heated, hateful glare in the woman’s eyes, where his loyalties lied. Gideon rushed forward and pulled Rum away, who went stumbling.

“Hey!”

“Stay out of this! Let that coward, that deceitful, sniveling man face me on his own.” She began shoving at Gideon’s shoulder to move him out of the way.

“Milah, please! We can still talk about this!” 

“No. No, I have lost every ounce of faith I once had that you were any kind of a functioning human being.” She turned away, short skirt flying out dramatically.

Rum outstretched his hand to reach for her, but Gideon pushed it back and turned to him. 

“That’s what you had before mom?”

“Mom- what? Move, I have to go after her. If she talks to Killian, I’m going to lose her for good.”

“Maybe you should. What could you see in her?” 

“That’s my girlfriend.” He said, as if it were a basis for what he saw in her. Gideon took him by the shoulders.

“No, no. You’re coming with me. I can’t in good conscious let you trail after that cu-”

Rum shot him a warning glare behind watering eyes. “Watch it.”

“Can’t say I’m sorry about it.” Gideon released his hold. “What the hell happened?”

Rum used the bottom of his palms to rub at his tear staining eyes. “Depends. What are you doing here?”

“New in town.” Gideon fumbled with his hands in his pockets. “Looking around and thought I heard a damsel in distress.”

“I love her, but Milah’s no damsel.”

Gideon had seen the words “I love you” before from his father, both to him and Belle. It had always just seemed like words they say to each other he wasn’t meant to say to anyone else. Watching him say that he loved his current girlfriend wasn’t the same. He probably wasn’t lying, but there was a distinctive lack of that certain look in his face. It was strange, causing Gideon to feel a certain coldness creep across his forehead like a washcloth. 

“Are you alright?” There was a slight crease of Rum’s brow as he asked this.

“Lightheaded, I think.” Gideon rubbed at his temple. “Meant to ask you, something. Can I bum your room at Granny’s for a bit?”

Rum studied him for a moment, lips pursed. He finally sighed after a second. “You don’t really seem like a desperate soul, but sure. Just don’t open the door for nobody, deal?”

“Fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you got a prompt for this, let me know in the comments! it'd help me update more often knowing where you want this to go x


End file.
